title: [Coefficients of feasibility for ordinal response scales].
abstract: Cronbach's alpha is systematically used in the social sciences to estimate internal consistency. However, this coefficient assumes the continuity of the variables and this assumption is not met by ordinal response items or Likert scales. This work shows two alternatives to the alpha coefficient, the ordinal alpha and beta coefficients. Both of them take into account the ordinal nature of the data. The new coefficients were applied to several scales and compared with the traditional estimation of alpha. This paper also shows how to estimate those coefficients.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del País Vasco, San Sebastián, Spain. paula.elosua@ehu.es
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Elosua Oliden
authors.forename: Bruno D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Zumbo
mesh_terms: D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011584:Psychology / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires